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A class/classes progression of a character.

Resent conversations involving:
end game
meta and balance
adjusting stats
class identity
crafting
made me want to open a discussion which indirectly covers the above topics.

Part 1
Main Class


I'd like to introduce to the community a system from an older game.
A character would begin at lv1 either as fighter or mage. 
At lv 20 this character would do a nice class lore bases quest for 30mins to start shapping it's identity and learn Role based skills such as tanking, dpsing, healing, supporting.
At lv 40 this character would have to do a day or two class role based quest in order to finalize it's identity. Each race had unique classes.
I am a tank. Now I am a Paladin as opposed to Dark Avenger. This is my class.
I am a mage. I am a nuker as opposed to a summoner.

At lv 76 this character would start a 1-2 week class role based quest. to master it's class.
This quest would require the help of the guild in order to take down raid bosses and fight off enemy guilds doing the sane quests.
A paladin would become a Phoenix Knight. A Dark Avenger would become a Death Knight at 76. A couple of strong skills would be added in this characters identity.
There were 6 categories of gear.
No Grade: 1-20 easy to obtain by killing mobs.
D Grade: 20-40. Obtained by NPC stores, looting sometimes. Top sets were crafted.
C Grade:40-52. Obtained by NPC stores for a high cost with the help of a Dwarven player. Top sets were crafted. Swords and Staffs could fetch good gold.
B Grade: The best looking armors and weapons I have seen in any mmorpg. 
It required a weeks effort to farm and craft a set and it was the most important set of your characters progression. Without armor for tanks, robes for healers, weapons for DPS a group could not enter dangerous zones.
Low chance to get a B grade from Raid bosses. 
A Grade: Elite gear. Craftable. Small chance to get from Raid Bosses. Hard stuff...
S Grade: In the peak of this games popularity only 50-100 per server would get such a set. Required a quest in order to craft. Low chance from Epic World Bosses. You'd want to be an awsome guild member to rally support for something like this.




Part 2
Subclass

A character that has mastered their class at 76 with all quests completed would now have the option to become Nobility by completing a 1-2 week quest with the help of the guild. 
As a noble this character could compete in a 1v1 tournament which each month declares one Hero for each classes. The best in each class becomes a figure known to the whole server, with a glorious aura, hero weapons and global shout at 2mins CD.

Now... once a noble this character could start the thoughest quest in game which involved a lot of wars, raiding, tough areas, and an Epic World Bosses that you didnt had to kill but needed to touch.

After completing this quest that could take a month this character could chose a subclass starting at 40lv with it's finalized form. Once this subclass was 74 this character could add a second subclass and finally a third. All subclassed could be leved at 76 and do their Master quest.



I only played one character in that mmorpg. 
Others played a lot of characters. 
As you can see a game that focused so much on the identity of a Class, a solid identity that could be tweeked only with different gear provided never ending content for players.
My main was a melee warrior. I became a hero for 2 months when I was good. I must say that the servers numbers had been halved by the time I was high lv.
My first sub was an archer because their were ez mode and I was tired. Maxed out. Got bored quickly.
Then I made a tank to help newbies in the guild and later a bladedancer(bard) to help in a different way.

There was no end game. No repetitions. No meta chasers. MEANINGFUL crafting and solid economy. No bound items.
Not even one instanced content.

To this day I believe that their success was in class variety, solid class identity with constant progression to unlock the full potentian of a class. 
Open world and meaningful crafting.






Comments

  • I'd love the Class system there.  However, I'd like to see the option open for doing any class's quests instead of making a new character.  The idea is upon character creation you arent from this point on "Archer"  You are a character, that wields a bow, but tomorrow a sword and shield, the day after cloth and a staff.  While this may take away from the "Master your class" aspect, it doesnt limit you to one playstyle (Albeit a very non-restrictive one).  If I wanted the higher tier gear/abilities, mastering my class and subclasses would still net me 'Master archer' skill level.  But I could also master Rogue, on the same character.  Able to equip endgame rogue gear on my master archer.  Now opening Ranged assassin gameplay.  BUT not locked into it.  The fluidity of Guildwars 1, ArcheAge made the class system what it is.  (I know AA had some balance flaws...but the idea was there)  IDK how many of you were Guild Wars PvPers, but the sheer number of viable classes, and group dynamics were insane.  I personally was a top 10 Hero battle arena, and the amount of different classes I could run was insanity, but never did I feel locked into any of them. 

    The AoC crafting system is a dream come true IF it works properly.  It's extremely promising as far as meaningful crafting is involved.  Needing a miner, smelter, smith, merchant just to make and sell a sword, is amazing.  Not to mention each smith will make a slightly different product.  Allowing for not just Famous PvPers but Famous crafters.  (Derailed a little) I'm not overly worried about the meaningful crafting aspect.  The idea behind a lvl 76 warrior + 76 Rogue having such drastic character development could spell amazing things, or too much grind for the majority to experience.  A great idea (Personally I think of Runescape) but stuck behind thousands of hours of grind, ends with a bored player.  TOO MANY things needed for end game content (ArcheAge) kills the players hope of reaching a top level.  A balance between Meaningful progression, Balance, and fair rewards for fair work is the single most important thing ashes needs to get right in this regard.  

    TLDR: I like the idea, but would want more flexibility lol
  • I much prefer the Ashes design of Class and Sub-class with a relatively low Level cap and a wide variety of augments from Class, Race, Social Organization, Religion and Guild Perks.
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